China fulfills annual employment targets early

BEIJING, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- In the first 11 months of this year, 12.02 million new jobs were created in China, surpassing the goal of 9 million new jobs, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS) said Tuesday.

The urban registered unemployment rate stood at 4.1 percent at the end of September, below the annual target of 4.6 percent, said Minister Yin Weimin.

The employment situation has been better than expected this year amid the backdrop of slowing global economic recovery and downward pressures weighing on the domestic economy, Yin said while addressing a national human resources and social security work conference.

Zhou Tianyong, a professor with the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said the double-digit economic growth in China's central and western regions has been a major engine for creating job opportunities.

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